Hillary Clinton's next act: The family foundation

Hillary Clinton’s next phase of life — the co-leader of a family foundation — has officially begun.

She’s coming in to her husband’s signature foundation, which has been renamed for all three Clintons — their daughter has an increased presence. It’s the first time the two elder Clintons, both of whom have led independent careers as political actors, are yoking their careers together doing essentially the same type of work at the same place and at the same time since the 1992 campaign. It also comes after the foundation’s first ever internal review, which was driven in part by Chelsea Clinton, officials said.

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Hillary’s thoughts on 2016

There’s a new CEO at the foundation, one who hails from Clinton’s former consulting firm, McKinsey & Company. Hillary Clinton’s new office at the foundation’s Manhattan headquarters is slowly taking shape as the chiefs of staff to all three Clintons hold a standing meeting every Monday to arrange schedules and events — three offices staffed with people who have worked together for years.

Her arrival comes two years after a period of review and, to some extent, self-reflection at the foundation, one that coincided with daughter Chelsea’s increased role.

Exactly how it will all work remains to be seen: How often will the Clintons travel together? What types of projects will they take on together? How much of an expansion will Hillary Clinton provide the foundation?

And one early challenge for Clinton is clear: using an exceptionally visible platform to focus on issues she cares about, and would be key to a presidential campaign if she runs, without getting roped into the daily morass of churning politics in Washington.

Clinton is joining the foundation launched by her husband and a coterie of former White House aides and advisers — former counselor to former President Bill Clinton, Doug Band, and later, health adviser Ira Magaziner as well as others 12 years ago. She joins it two years after her daughter, Chelsea, expanded her role and as the foundation is seeking to become a permanent structure instead of what officials describe as a “startup,” one with an endowment that can fund it well into the future and survive beyond the former president’s lifetime.

The foundation provides her with a formal apparatus at a time when she has no government staff structure for the first time in decades. And the foundation is also the structure that has provided sustenance for the extended Clintonland for over a decade, a sprawling world of donors, supporters and close friends who have done projects with, or have worked for, the organization at different points.

“I think having a place such as this for a platform gives her a great launching pad into 2016,” said former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs. “It gives her, quite frankly, a great place with which to create or begin to create the message she would use should she decide to run.”

He added, “The people that ultimately are successful [between public service and a campaign] have an apparatus with which they can devote their energy into something they’re going to talk about again. Those that don’t have that, that just sort of float between one or the other without something strong to give them a sense of direction and purpose, those are the people I think tend not to be a success.”

Recent history is rife with examples of national candidates who ran for the presidency while they were out of government office and failed to use the time wisely. Instead of diving into a singular issue set and letting it become his defining cause, Mitt Romney roamed the country raising money and collecting political chits. When he finally ran for president, he had never managed to create a platform that would help him politically. And Rudy Giuliani was unable to parlay six years of paid speeches and political appearances into something more substantive in his 2008 presidential campaign.

Clinton is in a different category than Romney or almost any other potential nominee has been. She is not at risk of a lack of political definition; overexposure is a bigger concern. The foundation provides a chance to talk about a specific issue set while also giving her an organizational buffer from the press and the daily grind of politics, at least for a time.

“It gives her a chance to work on important, discreet issues,” said David Axelrod, President Barack Obama’s longtime adviser. “She would be wise, however, to stay out of the updraft of the Washington tizzies du jour for as long as possible. It is a mixmaster that grinds you down.”

It will also be an early test of a question that has bedeviled Hillary Clinton since her 2008 campaign — and that abated during her time at the State Department: Can she manage a more functional entity? And her work at the foundation will invite fresh scrutiny of an entity that has generally received positive coverage for Bill Clinton’s work with the Clinton Global Initiative, a signature project, and his work in Haiti, Indonesia and Africa over the years on health and, in some cases, post-disaster recovery.

“She has a stress-free path to being an extraordinarily relevant and extraordinarily change-making” public figure, said former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, a Clinton supporter. But he added, “Everything comes under increased scrutiny. Although, if she said she wasn’t running for president, I think that would all change.”

Hillary Clinton made clear in a speech at a Clinton Global Initiative event in Chicago recently exactly how she plans to channel her work — by focusing on issues related to women and girls, early childhood development and economic development.

In her speech in the Windy City, she thanked her husband for giving “philanthropy and problem-solving a new paradigm. … I am very proud of what he has accomplished.”

She also described Chelsea Clinton’s “expanding” role, saying, “This is truly a labor of love for our entire family. In just a few short years, she has helped the foundation widen our reach to a whole new generation of young people. … We are so excited and thrilled to have this be a full partnership among the three of us.”

The Clinton Foundation, which has 351 employees, states as its mission: “The Clinton Foundation works to improve global health, strengthen economies, promote health and wellness and protect the environment by fostering partnerships among governments, businesses, nongovernmental organizations and private citizens — leveraging their expertise, resources and passions — to turn good intentions into measurable results.”

In addition to CGI, the foundation projects include the Clinton Climate Initiative, the Clinton Health Access Initiative, the Alliance for a Healthier Generation — which has focused on ending obesity — and solving poverty, as well as reducing chronic health issues like, AIDs in Africa. CGI, which attracts top-tier participants for a $20,000 registration fee and requires them to make a good-faith effort to meet commitments for the public good by the following year, was turned into a separate entity while Hillary Clinton was at the State Department but was recently folded back in.

Clinton’s arrival is during a new chapter at the foundation — as Chelsea Clinton has stepped up her role and after the organization’s first outside review in a decade ended with a number of recommendations for tightening structure and management.